U.S. Treasury Secretary in Louisville to Promote Obama’s Jobs Bill

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says President Barack Obama’s jobs bill would help business grow by investing in Kentucky railways, roads and aviation.

Geithner toured the UPS air hub, Worldport, in Louisville on Monday and said in order to improve the struggling economy, business needs help. Geithner’s appearance to promote Mr. Obama’s American Jobs Act was the third by a White House cabinet member in the past week.

“You do a better job of repairing roads and bridges, highways, airports, railways. It makes companies more competitive, lowers their cost. It’s like a tax cut,” said Geithner. “Infrastructure repair, repairing a road, does not make government bigger. It just makes the economy work better for business.”

While in Louisville Geithner met with local business leaders, said UPS CEO Scott Davis (pictured right) who shared the stage with Geithner. In a five-minute speech, Geithner said there needs to be certain investments to create growth and to be competitive in a world economy.

“We can afford to do it. It’s not just that interest rates today are at historic lows, but the cost of smart investments, infrastructure spending over time, are within our capacity as a country to afford,” said.

Geithner chose UPS to deliver his speech because it represents how some companies would benefit from infrastructure projects created from the jobs bill. And investing in highways and aviation will help the company double exports in the next five years, said Davis.

“We think cross-border trade will grow faster the next decade than it did last decade,” he said.

Mr. Obama’s jobs bill would invest over $450 million in Kentucky infrastructure and support at least 5,900 jobs. But that’s just one portion of the bill. Other initiatives include support for teachers and construction workers and creating various tax cuts.